Utility vehicles such as tractors with internal combustion engines have engine cooling systems that draw air from a front grill through a radiator into the engine compartment. The engine cooling system typically includes a radiator assembly with a cooling fan surrounded by a shroud. The cooling fan may be provided to force flow of cooling air across the radiator. The radiator may be disposed forwardly of the cooling fan, and the cooling fan may be disposed-forwardly of the engine.
Optimum performance of the engine cooling system requires that air flow be blocked or minimized around the first or engine side of the radiator assembly (i.e., the hot engine compartment) to the second or cool side of the radiator assembly (i.e., the front grill). Efforts to seal the engine side from the cool side have involved various combinations of outward extensions from the radiator area, along with sealing materials such as foam or rubber to fill gaps between the radiator assembly and the vehicle hood and/or side panels. For example, seals may include foam or rubber material that fills gaps between the internal surface of the vehicle hood and the radiator assembly. Several pieces and/or sizes of sealing material may be needed because the size of the gaps may vary. An improved and simplified sealing arrangement is needed between the engine side and cool side of a tractor radiator assembly.
In addition to the radiator, fan, and fan shroud, the radiator assembly includes structural components that support the radiator and fan shroud and/or attach those structures to the frame or body of the vehicle, parts that seal the radiator assembly and air intake passages, and auxiliary items such as coolant recovery bottles. As a result, a typical radiator package has a large number of parts and requires substantial assembly time, at a significant cost. It is highly desirable to decrease vehicle cost by reducing the number of parts and shortening assembly time needed for a radiator assembly.